Hold On To Humanity
by theregoeseverything
Summary: Lexa and Murphy are centuries old vampires living in the modern day...and their lives change forever when they meet two young kids - Bellamy and Clarke. Vampire modern au.
1. Chapter 1

"What's the point of drinking coffee if you're going to drown it in sugar and artificial flavors?" Murphy blurted out to Lexa as the two walked down the street late one night, sipping on their Starbucks.

"Mine tastes of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. It's as though I'm not drinking coffee at all," Lexa looked quizzically at the coffee cup in her hand, spinning it to look at the logo of the siren.

"And why use a siren? They do not partake in coffee," Lexa continued.

"Kids," Murphy rolled his eyes.

"Speaking of which," Lexa pointed down a dark alleyway. A group of hooded thugs were kicking a young man and woman. They were curled on the ground in pain, screaming and shouting for help but everyone else on the streets passed them by without so much as a glance. The hoodies had banners on the back that read – Azgeda. A feared and ruthless gang in this part of town that spanned back several years, Lexa remembered. She handed Murphy her coffee and ran at them, throwing her fists skillfully, while dodging their attacks. Murphy flinched, sympathetic for the hurt Lexa brought the group of bullies. The four gang members decided to retreat and climbed over the wall in the opposite direction of Lexa.

Once they were gone, Lexa kneeled by the girl and Murphy entered the alley way. They observed the two victims. They were just kids – so bloodied and beaten. Lexa struggled to hold back her tears as she watched the girl twitch in pain, gurgling on the blood that filled the back of her throat.

"Ssh, don't talk," Lexa whispered to her, placing a gentle hand on the side of her face.

Murphy stood over the young man, whose face he could not even make out under the swollen mess and bruises.

"They aren't going to make it," Lexa's voice quavered.

"We can save them," Murphy looked at her – his face equally as upset as hers.

"We promised not to do that again, Murphy. I can't put someone else through that," Lexa began to cry, "You remember what happened to Costia."

"We can learn from our mistakes with Costia. These kids are so young – they've barely been given a chance to live. It can't end here for them," Murphy's eyes were blood-shot and teary. They both held vulnerability toward the youth that die young. This scene hurt them as their dead hearts throbbed in pain.

"O-okay," Lexa stuttered, giving in.

Murphy put the two coffees down on the ground and bent down beside the young man. His blood smelled strong as it oozed out onto the alleyway asphalt. Murphy's eyes drank it in and he managed to pull himself together to bite into the young man's neck. Hesitantly, Lexa did the same.

"What's your name?" Lexa's words were fuzzy in the young woman's ears. Light flooded into her vision and she could only just make out Lexa – a young woman with a pretty face and sad, old eyes that looked like they had seen too much.

"C-Clarke," she finally managed to say. She sat up in the bed that Lexa had placed her in. Clarke's vision sharpened and she looked about her – head throbbing in pain as sounds finally came into focus. Everything pounded in her ears. She backed herself into the corner of the bed, eyes wilding examining the room around her. It was a rather large, open, empty room, lined with bookshelves. The girl before her had been sitting on a stool before she had gotten up to comfort Clarke.

"Clarke, calm down. My name is Lexa. I'm here to help you – I promise," Lexa smiled sympathetically.

"Where the hell am I?" Clarke blurted out loudly.

"You're in my home. You're safe. You were attacked by a group from a very vicious gang," Lexa attempted to reassure her, but Clarke continued to fidget and thrash about in a panic. Next door they could hear Murphy struggling with his guest as the young man attacked him and threw him across the room, pushing things off shelves and tables with a frightening crash.

"What the hell is happening!?" the young man shouted.

"I will explain everything – but only if you'll _calm down_ ," Murphy insisted, pushing him back toward the bed in his room.

"Who the hell are you?" the young man shouted.

"Sit, down," Murphy stared at him sternly and managed to control him with his icy eyes.

The young man sat, quieting down.

"Good. My name is Murphy. What's yours?"

"Bellamy," the young man replied, still frowning with rage built up behind his eyes.

"Bellamy, I need to you to remain calm. I'm afraid your life will not be the same anymore," Murphy started.

"What do you mean, I'm not the same me? Who the hell am I, then?" Clarke shouted at Lexa from the other room as she clasped her hands over her ears.

"I'm so sorry, Clarke. I didn't want to have to do it. You were dying and I decided to give you back life – I gave you a new one. Clarke…you're a vampire now," Lexa explained.

"What the hell are you talking about? Vampires? You're insane!" Bellamy stood up. Murphy stood as well but his eyes flooded with darkness, filling completely with black as he bared his long, vampiric, fangs. Bellamy sat down immediately in fear, back away from him.

"You're not joking," Bellamy panted.

"No, I'm not…for once," Murphy rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"Why…why didn't you just let me die?" Bellamy began to tear up.

"How could you do this to me!?" Clarke screamed at Lexa.

"I couldn't let you die. I just…I couldn't," tears filled Lexa's eyes.

"How can I live like this?" Clarke looked down at her hands. Lexa leaned forward to take them up in hers and kissed them gently.

"I will teach you. You will not be alone in this. You are not alone," Lexa attempted to smile at her, but seeing Clarke in tears only made her want to cry more. Clarke nodded after a bit of silence and Lexa hugged her tightly.

"You'll be alright," Murphy assured Bellamy.

"How can you know?" Bellamy looked up at him with frightened eyes.

"I've been in your place. I know the life. I'll be with you every step of the way. You're among friends," Murphy smiled, leaning back into his chair.

"I hope you're right."


	2. Chapter 2

"Sir, we have the one responsible for attacking our men in our custody," Bellamy's henchman reported, hands folded in front of him.

"Send them in," Bellamy replied, waving a hand to beckon two more henchman into his hall. The building was old but recently renovated to suit Bellamy's dark style. The marble floors glistened in the dim lights that filtered through the blinded windows. Bellamy sat on what looked like a throne at the head of the room, lights shining around him to make him look ethereal.

The two henchmen entered, dragging in a beaten young man by his arms. His face was covered in blood, bruises and swollen flesh. They threw him in a messy heap before Bellamy's feet. The young man crumpled on the floor but stubbornly picked himself up to his hands and knees, lifting his head. Bellamy could just make out the change in expression from anger to disappointment in the young man's face and that's when he recognized him.

"Murphy!?" Bellamy's eyes went wide with fear as he pulled himself to the end of his seat.

"Out! Everyone out! I want this room cleared. NOW," Bellamy demanded with a sharp tongue. Everyone obeyed and quickly filed out of the room, leaving the two alone. Once the doors closed behind them, Bellamy fell to his knees before Murphy, taking his face up in his hands.

"It's you…" Murphy coughed, eyes still in disbelief.

"It's me, yeah," Bellamy began to cry, "What have they done to you?"

"It's you that's been in charge of this vampire gang?" Murphy's eyes began to tear.

"What? Look, Murphy…why have you been attacking my men?" Bellamy's eyes bounced between Murphy's good eye and the swollen shut one.

"How could you make an organization that lets vampires get away with killing innocent people?" Tears streamed down Murphy's face, cutting through the blood stains.

"I helped vampires in need. I'm keeping them from going into frenzies," Bellamy defended himself. Murphy pulled away from Bellamy, falling backwards and backing away.

"You've undone all that Lexa and I have worked centuries for," Murphy shouted, disheartened.

"I've fixed the vampire society that was once broken!" Bellamy shouted at him, "Why can't you be proud of me?"

Murphy pulled himself up off the floor to stand, Bellamy following.

"Because vampires are what is evil in the world again," Murphy explained, "Before your organization, they were just ordinary people in which something unfortunate happened to them and they had to struggle with it. Now that there's no struggle, they can do whatever they want because they're more powerful – it separates humans from vampires. They're losing their humanity. Even Lexa and Clarke have been able to live relatively normal lives for themselves. Why could you have done the same?"

"OUT! I want him out of here!" Bellamy bellowed, echoing in his henchmen to return to his room. They marched in, taking Murphy up by the arms again and pulled him away. Murphy would not go so easily this time though. He kicked and threw himself about aggressively, showing off his fangs, but the henchmen were too strong for him while he was in his miserable state. Tears poured from his face as he screamed at Bellamy. He spat blood onto the pristine marble floors.

"Take him away…I'll deal with him later," Bellamy commanded, tears welling up in his eyes in disappointment.

"You have no idea what you've started, Bellamy!" Murphy shouted before being dragged out of the exit. Bellamy retired to his throne, discouraged and angry. He spied the blood that had dripped from Murphy's body, staining his floors.

"Someone please clean that spot up. I don't want his blood decorating these halls."


	3. Chapter 3

Every sound - from people eating inside cafés as they walked past to footsteps and pounding hearts in the chests of runners going down the street two blocks over, all drummed into Bellamy's ears, overwhelming him with sounds that were at a migraine-worthy volume. He could smell hotdog stands across town with their noxious scent of fake meats, and scabs on small children's knees. His senses were too strong and it was all too fast.

Even after spending weeks in Murphy and Lexa's mansion of an apartment training his and Clarke's new found powers, the real world continued to prove too much to take.

"Can we go back? I can't do this," Bellamy whined, hands clasped to his temples.

"You'll be alright. You need to get used to things. Don't be such a baby," Murphy patted him on the back to which Bellamy flinched at. Passersby stared at him as though he was crazy. _I'm going to go crazy_ , Bellamy thought to himself.

"Just try to focus on one thing at a time," Murphy encouraged.

Bellamy narrowed it down to just the street they were on. He could feel a breeze headed their way, smell the scent of croissants from a local bakery that was two stores down, hear the ovens inside going off. He closed his eyes, ready to take in the fresh scent of dough.

"Mmmm," Bellamy smiled in satisfaction.

Murphy smiled in approval, happy to see how quickly Bellamy was picking things up. He was no Clarke, but he was still doing very well. However, Murphy was suddenly distracted with a familiar scent – leather with crusted blood. His smile faded quickly and he grabbed Bellamy's arm.

"We need to move, now," Murphy whispered to him aggressively.

"What's going on?' Bellamy asked, confused.

"Azgeda," Murphy snarled.

"That gang that attacked me and Clarke that night?" Bellamy stopped abruptly, pulling Murphy back. His eyes scanned the crowds for their leather jackets, spotting them not too far away as they peeked out from behind an alleyway. Bellamy started for them, Murphy quickly following after him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Murphy asked angrily.

"I have a score to settle. I can handle this," Bellamy snapped.

"No, you can't. Don't be stupid, there's too many!" Murphy tried to grab at Bellamy's jacket but Bellamy bulleted forward, turning into the alley and throwing a fist at the first gang member he could find. Missed. The gang member punched him across the skull and another took a baseball bat to the back of his head, knocking him out cold.

"Bellamy!" he could hear Murphy's voice scream out faintly.

Bellamy's eyes fluttered open to find himself in the heart of the Azgeda gang's lair – a damp, windowless cellar that spared no sunlight. He hung from chains that wrapped around his wrists, neck, waist and ankles. He struggled to pull himself free but they were tightly bound and unyielding.

"Where are the other two? Those two girls that were with you two that night?" Bellamy heard a raspy voice threaten. He looked up to see Murphy chained to a metal chair, his face bruised and beaten bloody. One eye was nearly swollen closed and his breathing was shallow. He was surrounded by three gang members.

"Murphy!" Bellamy shouted.

"Ah! Look who's awake!" the gang member smiled evilly as he turned in Bellamy's direction.

"Leave him alone!" Bellamy shouted.

"Ya see, I'd love to, but uh – your friend here messed with the wrong gang. He couldn't just leave _us_ alone. So we need to get him back for it. Send a message to the people, see?"

Murphy spat blood across the room that splattered across the floor.

"What we don't understand is, how you're up and about without a single broken bone!"

"Echo musta' kicked in your rib cage real good that night and you're just a'okay. Well that's not a'okay with us, you hear?" the second gang member swung the back of his hand against Murphy's face, leaving another scar that blood began to seep from.

"I don't think they're even human." Another hit.

"Stop! You'll kill him!" Bellamy screamed.

"Couldn't be." Hit.

"STOP IT!"

The gang members threw back their heads and laughed, cackling upward to the cement ceilings. They were just toying with Murphy at this point. Tears poured from Bellamy's eyes. He pulled and pulled at the chains until finally, the cement gave way and the bolts sprung from the walls. Enraged, Bellamy swung the chains at the gang members, hitting them across their heads and throwing them to the floor. He jumped on top of one, sinking his teeth deep into his neck and bit off a piece. They screamed in fear and confusion. He chewed a bit and spat it out, jumping to the next to do the same and then the next. As each lay screaming on the floor, Bellamy jumped at them – teeth first and ripped out their vocal chords.

Blood was everywhere. It permanently stained the floors and walls. It dripped down his skin and sank into the fabric of his clothes. The taste clung into his taste buds, bitter, metallic, yet sweet. He went to Murphy's side, tears still streaming from his face.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry," he cried.


End file.
